Do I have a case against this car dealer or am I screwed?

I purchased a used car on Saturday and on Monday I had to take it back to the dealer to have it looked at. The engine head (not sure of the terminology here) had cracked and there was an exhaust leak into the coolant reservoir. They said that they would replace the car with one of equal or better value. It is now Thursday, and I still haven't gotten a new car. I have gone into their dealership every day, except for Sunday, and called every day to no avail. My salesperson is not there when I go in and neither is a manager, so I keep getting told to come back or call back. They are trying to put me in a car that I don't much care for with extremely high mileage and I have told them that I do not want that car. I put $3,000 as a down payment and have purchased insurance (did not previously have as I am now purchasing a car). I am also having to continue filling up the gas tank on the car that I am borrowing, it is my mother-in-law's car, and it gets horrible gas mileage. Hence the reason for purchasing a new car. All in all, I am losing money from just about every angle. What are my rights as a consumer and what am I entitled to and do I have a legal matter on my hands?

If you bought this used car with a warranty, then your warranty governs what rights you have. YOu need to review it yourself or hire a lawyer for help, since as is true of almost all contract questions, no one on Avvo can analyze the exact language in a contract they haven't seen, so you're going to need to review it yourself or hire a lawyer for help.

If on the other hand you bought this used car "as is," without a warranty, then pretty much all the rights you had, you had BEFORE you decided to buy this car - the right to test drive it, inspect it thoroughly inside and out, have your own mecahnic inspect it, the right to review its maintenance records and its CarFax reports, etc.

If you didn't do your "due diligence" to know what risks you were assuming, then you're left with whatever rights you got in the purchase contract you signed. Again, no one on Avvo can guess what your contract says, so you're going to need to review it yourself or hire a lawyer for help.

Disclaimer: I'm only licensed in CA. Please note that this answer does not constitute legal advice, and should not be relied on, since each state has different laws, each situation is fact specific, and it is impossible to evaluate a legal problem without a comprehensive consultation and review of all the facts and documents at issue. This answer does not create an attorney-client relationship.